Generally considered a cheery thing to do it’s difficult to bring this up with office whistlers without sounding like you are a grumps.

Think about it though – you are foisting a high pitched version of your music onto everyone without their consent. Who else does this – kids on buses with their phones. Do you find that annoying? Of course you do.

So yeah whistling – fine in the park. Not fine in an enclosed environment where people can’t escape from you.

]]>By: Miss Phttp://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=162&cpage=1#comment-487606
Sat, 09 Nov 2013 13:55:18 +0000http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=162#comment-487606I love to whistle, and have been brought up tp think of it as a cheerful expression
Of being happy in the moment. When I feel good, a little tune whistles from my lips
Without me thinking about it. It drives my bf mad, he says it is rude.
I think he is a kill joy, litterally putting a stop to my cheery bliss.
]]>By: amplefirehttp://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=162&cpage=1#comment-472688
Fri, 21 Jun 2013 03:08:42 +0000http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=162#comment-472688I meant to say “Since the GPS, we rarely speak to strangers asking for directions.” Dr. Goodword, feel free to correct that or just post this correct. Thanks!
]]>By: amplefirehttp://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=162&cpage=1#comment-472687
Fri, 21 Jun 2013 03:05:30 +0000http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=162#comment-472687My wife just chastised me for whistling the same song several times in one day, and it turned into a little argument over the whole issue of whistling. She’s from Russia and thinks it’s lower class. Then again, I’ve never visited a gloomier-faced country in my whole life. You almost never see people smiling unless they’re plastered drunk, and you never make chit chat or smile with employees in shops like we do more so in the west.

So from her point of view being from such an “repressed” country (from my perspective), I understand how she would hold that opinion against whistling. But anti whistling sentiments in U.S.?

I was born in the 60s and grew up with whistling all around me. I can’t ever remember a time when I was annoyed by someone else whistling. I am a musician and always have music in my head and sometimes I whistle, but always to myself. I don’t try to project it or anything and it’s largely unconscious. My grandfather used to whistle to the birds and get into conversations with them. I do that myself from time to time because it’s a lot of fun.

I would say that all of this expressiveness (singing, whistling, talking to strangers, laughing, etc) IS most definitely a symptom of peace and happiness inside a person. I do think that people who lack patience, generally speaking, and who are quick to be irritated (a mild form of anger) should look within a little bit deeper. Unless someone has hijacked your space and forcing his whistling on you, preventing you from doing your work, etc. It really shouldn’t be a problem. Perhaps in this age of independence, we’re losing our sense of each other in the public arena.

Back before people had iphones and other portable gadgets, there was a lot more singing and whistling on the streets. A lot more interactive conversations with people too. Since the 6OS, we rarely speak to strangers asking for directions. We don’t go into a store for change in order to call from a pay phone. SO MUCH has changed, and in my mind, not exactly for the better. We all love the perks of technology, but it’s humanity I’m really worried about these days.

]]>By: Chelshttp://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=162&cpage=1#comment-203674
Wed, 17 Nov 2010 16:29:22 +0000http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=162#comment-203674I have to disagree with the OP in suggesting that “music these days” is unwhistlable, and that’s why the practise is no longer in vogue. Many young artists incorporate whistling directly into their music such as Andrew Bird or Peter, Bjorn and John.

I’m sorry, but when I hear someone start to talk about “the rappin’ and the hip hoppin'” music, I have to roll my eyes. Hahaha. Youth culture is far more than just terrible top 40 garbage.

As much as I love the above whistlers, people who whistle in public spaces like offices and elevators to me are absolutely rude. I will be the first to admit, they probably don’t realize it’s rude, but it totally is.

The sound is high pitched, loud, and frankly often off-key or just random sounds. I can’t leave my desk. I can’t escape the sound, I just have to sit there feeling like someone is sticking pins under my fingernails. I want to punch babies. I want to drive an ice pick through my temporal lobe. I want to throw my keyboard at him as he walks by. I want to scream “Don’t you realize you’re driving people MAD?!”

I’m normally purely pacifist.

So no, I don’t think whistling in general is gone or waning: many artists still utilize the art and are very proficient at it. However, I do think people are starting to come to terms with the fact that whistling by people in confined spaces can drive otherwise normal people to the brink of sanity. It’s pure torture to inflict others with off-key, high pitched emissions of “joy and happiness”.

]]>By: Trinahttp://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=162&cpage=1#comment-164916
Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:44:13 +0000http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=162#comment-164916Robert is obviously one of those oblivious types mentioned above. The unhappiness is caused by the torture of the whistling. No one here is complaining about anything BUT whistling. Speaking for myself, I am not an unhappy person–quite the contrary. Perhaps you feel that these whistlers job is to bring me down.
]]>By: Robert Beardhttp://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=162&cpage=1#comment-162779
Thu, 01 Jul 2010 01:35:47 +0000http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=162#comment-162779You seem to oppose happiness in general. I can understand why expressions of it would irk you.
]]>By: Chttp://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=162&cpage=1#comment-162740
Wed, 30 Jun 2010 19:06:46 +0000http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=162#comment-162740Whistling is noise pollution, pure and simple. I don’t want to hear it at work, in the supermarket or anywhere else unless it is associated with a concert or show that I paid to see. I don’t want to hear your whistling, your singing, your humming, your side of a phone conversation or any other sound the human body is capable of producing.
What makes you think I would want to hear your whistling? Get over yourself – you are not the center of the universe.
It is an invasion of my personal space as much as much as when pushing people stand 3 inches behind you in line or a fellow diner reaches across you to grab the salt shaker.
Whistling is an annoying habit that should only be done when you are alone.
]]>By: Amyhttp://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=162&cpage=1#comment-161113
Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:42:04 +0000http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=162#comment-161113My problem is that the whistler is the owner of the company I work for and no matter how many people tell him that it is disruptive, the more he does it. His (grown) children who run the company also do it but when brought to their attention they stop (the youngest is 42). I think that it is a generational thing and he truly does not understand how rude and annoying it is. It is one of the contributing factors to my looking for employment elsewhere. While not the only issue I have with the company, it is a good indicator of the lack of respect the people who work for him receive. Times change, people change and learning to respect and stop what others find offensive, even though you do not, is what makes progress happen. Back when he was my age there were no cell phones, computers, and all of the other information overloading devices that compounded with whistling can push some people to madness. All I can say is that if I was doing something that upset someone as much as whistling upsets me I would be apologetic and make a valiant effort to curb the offensive behavior. This is my plea to all of the whistlers: be aware of your surroundings and whistle responsibly!
]]>By: Trinahttp://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=162&cpage=1#comment-158851
Wed, 19 May 2010 16:14:43 +0000http://www.alphadictionary.com/blog/?p=162#comment-158851I have 5…count them FIVE whistlers in my office. I tried to talk to the most annoying one about it. He told me that where he used to work, someone threatened to throw things at him. So he knows, and yet he STILL whistles…especially when he’s walking by my cubicle. I told him it’s like nails on a chalk board, but obviously he doesn’t care. He actually told the other whistlers and they support him. Apparently it’s OK to drive someone mad. I should just burst out in showtunes, Ethel Merman style, whenever I feel like it. Earphones, music, whatever do not work, because nothing blocks out the high pitches. I don’t know why someone would ever think that it’s OK to randomly make annoying high-pitched sounds. It’s just not right!
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